Vexing Questions to Consider as We Enter Football Lent
16 comments so far
March 10, 2009 by
It’s sort of spring, a time when young men’s thoughts turn to the stunning lack of football and then—if your thoughts are as nomadic as mine—wander further afield into the borderlands of inanity.
There’s a time and a place for tackling the tough questions surrounding your 2009 Nebraska Cornhuskers. This post is neither of those.
1. Where did the Blackshirts logo come from?
I don’t know the answer to this question and that drives me crazy. The origins of the Blackshirts moniker is well documented. Some lackey on the Devaney staff went to the sporting goods store to get some yellow practice jerseys to differentiate the defense during scrimmages. Almost like they were selling Model T’s or umbrellas, the only color the store had available was black which, in hindsight is a pretty fortuitous lack of selection. Yellowshirts doesn’t really have the same menace as Blackshirts and it almost certainly wouldn’t have resulted in the helmet clad skull and crossbones we see today. (Could the defense have become known as the Old Gold Knights in a nod to a nickname of old? Maybe. I’ll still take the skull.)
But the real question here is where did that logo come from and when did it come into use? I’ve never seen any other versions of the logo, no clue that earlier iterations were updated with a new facemask style or color. Just the same vaguely 80s-ish look with the same stenciled font. The normally reliable Internet turns up very little so I’ll open the floor to you the reader.
Any memories or recollections you may have of the Blackshirts logo first appearing would, if nothing else, put my wandering mind at ease.
2. What’s the official drink of Husker Nation?
As someone who considers this question with alarming frequency, I have yet to come up with anything to unseat the red beer but not for lack of trying. Nebraska, unlike almost every other region of the country, never really had a big, cheap locally brewed beer--along the lines of Grain Belt, National Bohemian (colloquially, Natty Boh), Iron City, etc.—to call our own. Instead, like many of the corn belt states, we took somebody else’s beer and added tomato juice. Conveniently, this results in a red drink.
Problems arise, however, when, like me, you don’t like tomato juice BUT you don’t like feeling ostracized from your clan. What to do? Thus, it was with great delight that I came across a viable alternative while reading this old profile from the SI Vault. Two words for you: The Devaney.
We all know that jovial Bob enjoyed a tipple every now and again (and again and again), so why not honor one of the state’s most famous drinkers with the beverage he reportedly favored: bourbon and milk. Before you gag just realize that for some people, like me again, this is imminently more appealing in theory than a red beer and, while it lacks the color coordination of the current state drink, it is at least equally defensible as an early morning drink for tailgating prior to an 11am kickoff. There’s milk in there so that makes it breakfast.
You can’t tell me that people wouldn’t be absolutely delighted to walk into any bar in Nebraska and order a “Devaney.� Even if it is just bourbon and milk, by calling it a Devaney that makes it ours.
And in practice—for research purposes only, of course, I tried it—it’s surprisingly not bad. Definitely not Three Wisemen bad which, if the Devaney doesn’t catch on, I’m going to mount a campaign to rename that drink the Triple Option within the state of Nebraska. You definitely don’t want that as our official drink so give the Devaney a try.
3. Runza, Val’s, or Fairbury? Your last Memorial Stadium meal?
A real, 5-star, blue chip trip to Memorial Stadium usually includes all three. (And Misty’s the night before. Counting calories and antacid is what the rest of the week is for.) But say you knew you were making your final trip to Memorial Stadium—shudder--and could only choose one, which would it be?
I have a feeling that the official food of Husker Nation race breaks down sort of like this (note: Dorothy Lynch is a condiment and therefore exempt from this conversation):
The Runza is Tom Osborne. Universally revered and, from a fast food/culinary merits perspective, our best food forward. You’ll never feel shame in being defined or represented by the Runza.
Valentino’s is Bob Devaney. Only slightly less popular than the Runza and, thanks to the infamous buffet, generally viewed as the life of the party with a heaping dose of excess built right in.
That leaves the Fairbury Hot Dog which, I suppose, is Dana X. Bible. Eternally overshadowed by the other two, the red dog is surprisingly strong upon further review just like the man who started A&M’s 12th Man tradition. While at Nebraska, Bible went 50-15-7 for a .694 winning percentage and six Big Six conference titles in eight years during the 30s but hardly ever seems to come up in historical football conversations despite being a Hall of Famer. The Fairbury Hot Dog seems to be in that same good but not the greatest category and, ever the contrarian, I honestly think that might be my choice for last Memorial Stadium meal. A hot dog, the encapsulation, literally, of Americana…but it’s red. That’s about as Nebraskan as it gets. (Outside of a Fairbury Hot Dog inside of a Runza, that is, but that would be cheating.)
And with that, now’s as good a time as any to note that we’re less than 40 days away from the spring game! Moses made it and so can we. Until then, let your mind wander.
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hskrzfan34 Mar 10 09
I don't know much of the history of the logos, but I do have a couple thoughts on it.
1) I say we go back to the tear away jerseys. Nothing seems to say football like a torn apart jersey hanging from one shoulder pad. Something about the tear away jersey makes me feel like I'm really watching football. :)
2) Can't Nebraska do some updating on the jersey soon? I remember as a kid, when I was about 12, I began working on a new design for them. Something fresh and new is in order with our new leader Bo. I think it's time to catch up with the rest of the century. We still look like we play in last century. I don't think I have the designs from when I was 12 anymore, but they're more than welcome to call. Surely Adidas can come up with something. I'm thinking black helmet, Big Red N and the cursive Huskers through it, over some darker black and red jerseys! Let's toughen up the look a bit. Heck, put the skull & crossbones on the helmet for all I care.
I vote yes on an updated look.
darren Mar 10 09
The Devaney - wow, awesome. I love that it can serve as a "breakfast drink" considering how often NU has been in that stupid 11:30 AM time slot recently.
Before this discovery, I was stuck putting whiskey in my coffee for those morning kick off. I mean, it seemed like a good idea a the time. But turned out to be pretty harsh and the heartburn was ridiculous. Hmm...should that be called "The Callahan". :-)
Bret Mar 10 09
As to question number one that's actually a pretty good one. I'd contact Media Relations at the Athletic Dept. and see if they have an answer. I'd be willing to bet that the Emeritus Don "Fox" Bryant would know something about it.
That or contact their marketing office. They might have something on file since I believe that's a copyrighted or registered logo mark.
Dwayne Mar 10 09
Don't even think about messing with that helmet. Are you freaking kidding me? Have you ever heard of branding?
bnahusker Mar 10 09
Question #1 is one I would like to know the answer to.
Question #2 turned my stomach.
Question #3 can only be answered with two words. Cheese Runza! To me a hot dog is a hotdog. As far as Val's, I remember getting take out pizzas in the paper "tent" on a round cardboard disk. Off the mega bar and at the stadium, it just doesn't taste the same.
As far as hskrzfan34s post....... I'll second the motion from the Honorable Dwayne. Don't even THINK about altering the helmet! Let's keep the substance over style. I don't mind when they make changes to the stripes but if your uniform needs to impress someone..............
GBR!
Bob
PS People need to read the whole SI Story. Great link!
Mase Mar 10 09
"The Callahan" LMAO!!!!
I don't know if I could choose on the food...being that I live in Texas now, I can't wait to get my hands on all three (and Amigos isn't bad either-extinct though?) when I'm back in Lincoln. I love the blackshirts logo...I had it on a front license plate when I lived in Kansas and Pennsylvania. Earned me some interesting looks from time to time. I disagree with changing the uniform (tear away jerseys are fine), but why would we want to copy Texas Tech with the color scheme? I don't think we should use any black with any modification, unless it was very subtle...I do like the all one-color uniforms though. I know they haven't been good for us, but over time if we implemented them, I think it could be.
Andy Mar 10 09
While I certainly agree that we don't want to mess and/or tinker with the uniforms much, like it or not, cool, cutting edge uniforms are used as a recruiting tool these days. Oregon (with very generous support from Phil Knight and Nike) uses cutting edge uniforms as a way to woo kids out of California (and other football hotbeds) to Eugene. Not that it would be effective for us, I'm just saying it does happen.
tom Mar 10 09
What about Husker Soda?
Qualuedtke Mar 10 09
Black helmets? No way.
Brandon Mar 10 09
Ahhh, the uniform debate...always hotly contested. I'd broach the subject here but it would just turn into a full length post so I'll save it and go with the only quick suggestion I can think of that might appease both parties: A new secondary logo. Think corn. That's gotta be in there.
Or, alternatively, we could just use the secondary logo we already have...Herbie. Put a little Herbie on the pants where the little 'N' currently appears. It's not much of a change but it'd make me happier than a pig in...you know.
Dwayne Mar 10 09
You just can't find this stuff in the card catalog. How do you guys find the time to find these articles? It looks interesting and I'll place it in the must read folder. Thanks for the SI link.
Husker fan in foreign land Mar 10 09
hskrzfan34 are you flippin kidding me????? I have to respond to this as it might be the dumbest idea I've ever read on here. I've had this conversation several times before so please bear with me on the long response.
hskrzfan34, have you forgotten the bitter 7-7 season that led to the downfall of Frank Solich!?!? The ONLY season in recent history where we had a change in uniform. I am not alone in saying how much I hated it. After that season Stevie P. was already done with Frank (and there was nothing the following 9-3 season could say about it) and we are still on the journey to see how the decision to fire him has left us.
DO NOT MESS WITH OUR BELOVED NU's UNIFORMS OR HELMETS! GEEZ! I'll never forget during that season how much my non-NE friends had to say about it. These fans of Ohio State, Penn State, Alabama, USC etc. could not believe that we changed the uniforms and felt that Nebraska was getting "away from the old" in a very uncool way. I agreed. This is something that should never change; in college football good tradition breeds many good things. Do we want to look like Oregon or TT or what? No. Nebraska is old school. We need to stay linked with our proud heritage and tradition in every way possible, lest we forget the Callahan experiment and the hundreds of stories we read about how the former coaching staff and administration alienated past players and coaches. Thankfully that culture is now gone. We should leave it gone.
Uniforms might not seem like a big deal but when you're talking about kids, albeit huge athletic kids, any sort of mental distraction can snowball. We want them seeing themselves in those same uniforms they see in the hallways and trophy cases in the football complex, seeing each other on the field, kicking ass, mentally motivating themselves with thoughts of "WE are Nebraska. WE will always be Nebraska. WE have been there before, you & I, now WE need to do it again"...in so many words.
We value our tradition and obviously the new coaching staff does too. Visions of Mike Rozier, Broderick Thomas, Derek Brown, Trev Alberts, Grant Wistrom, T. Frazier, Eric Crouch, etc etc playing in the very same uniforms as the current team does means something to them....and we need to embrace the success and strive for the success of the last century now and long into the future.....
nu-isu-fan Mar 11 09
Red Beer: I don't like tomato juice either, but if you add some spices and a pickle, it's quite good. I'll have to try The Devaney.
Helmet Logos: Don't ever change. I can’t find the website right now, but saw one awhile back with all NCAA teams and the logos they’ve had since day 1 on their helmets. Programs like Nebraska, Alabama, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, etc. had one thing in common – they haven’t changed often. Programs with a tradition of winning programs don’t change. On the other hand, my beloved Cyclones change every few years with hopes somehow the logo change will improve the program. Don’t even get me started on their last change which involved not only a logo change but a school color change. Grrrr.
huskerfan_71 Mar 12 09
This should be easy...ANYTHING mixed with cherry Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid, it doesn't get more Nebraskan that that. You can call it Huskeraid or even a Husker Shot. I think Cinnamon Schnapps mixed with cherry Kool-Aid...mmm sure would go down good on a cold football day.
kalthalior Mar 12 09
No messing with the unis unless you do a "throwback" game with the red helmets from the late 50s. The website to the "Helmet project" is http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/
As far as drinks go, as a former Lincoln bartender, I served more pre-game Bloody Marys than you can shake a stick at, even running out of mix on several occasions. I've got to vote for Val's over the Runza though.
Noni Mar 23 09
Keep our beloved Huskers of now dressed like yore. If they are changed there may be many years of drought. Know what I mean?? I have to go with Bloody Mary's because of how many I made on game day in my bartending days. And last but not Least is the Runza. It has been so many years without a Runza and I hunger for one everyday. Nebraska has the best uniforms, Bloody Mary's and Runza's. So PLEASE leave them alone.